Laxidasia
= Overview = A small kingdom located on the south western coast of the greater Voël continent. Isolated by oceans and treacherous mountain passes, Laxidasia has developed with very little outside influence. Even with little contact with other nations Laxidasia has not escaped long periods of war, mostly due to a long sequence of revolts followed by tyrannical leaders. Records of Laxidasia's ancient history were lost during the reign of Cardinal Brituis Hobnog due to the Cardinal's efforts in his later years to try skew historical perception of his rule. = History = In the entirety of Laxidasia's 500 years of recorded history no single rule has lasted more than 80 years, the shortest lasting only 3 months. Only during one of these periods was the power passed to a child of the previous ruler. Other than that exception power in Laxidasia has always been won through conflict. The Bastard Wars The Kingless age began immediately following Cardinal Hobnog's death in 2786. The initial fighting erupted at the Cardinal's funeral ceremony. A small scuffle between two groups of the Cardinal's recently legally legitimised Bastard children would begin 150 years of war. The early portion of the war had two factions fighting for control, the 5 Bastards born of northern prostitute Mary Cherry (fighting for their eldest, Finbar to become king) and the Quintuplets born of Southern tavern owner Darcy Wentworth. After 40 years of war during a ceasefire all five Cherry brothers were assassinated. The Wentworth's denied all association to the killings and blamed an unknown third party. With the deaths of the Cherrys, many believed peace would be restored. Unfortunately what followed was the bloodiest period of the Bastard Wars. After a disagreement over who was the first born of the Wentworth Quintuplets, one of the brothers, Gary was killed by a group of hired thugs under the command of Charles Wentworth. The 4 remaining Wentworth's split territories around the kingdom and began fighting for total control. It was 110 years later that the remaining children of the then deceased original Wentworth's would all be killed during an accidental fire during a peace meeting in the trades hall building in Homeland. The conclusion of the war was Laxidasia's only known successful democratic election, and the inevitable crowning of a popular tavern chain owner, Valar Taraban. (2936) Death of Valar Valar Taraban was assassinated after only 2 years of ruling (2938). Under his rule starvation had claimed the lives of thousands and a plague has begun to grip the land. It was believed that his experience running a tavern chain was not quite enough to comfortable run a kingdom. Rise of Eleanor Reeve During an attempted election in 3151, Eleanor Reeve and her band of mercenaries forced voters to elect her as leader. During the vote counting, many official counters had family members kidnapped and townspeople around the country started going missing. The result of the election was never publicly announced, and Reeve was never officially given the reign of the Kingdom. However her and her mercenary group began to become known as an imperial force, and for the first time, Laxisasia was known as an empire. Reeve created mandatory education programs in every town, where a special set of topics were covered. Children were Taught an altered history of Reeve's exploits, and were also told of the dangers of trusting races other than humans. Around 30 years into her rule, Reeve began forcing 90% of the non-human populous onto large ships, then forcing them to set sail far away from Laxidasia. Reeve also began to increase export taxes on Basil and Magnes Steel. Reeve removed all forms of a judicial system other than herself and a few other ordained officials. This led to people being imprisoned as suspects, awaiting trial in front of Reeve in homeland. While early in her rule Reeve took the time to see over all cases, it quickly became the case that most judgments were delayed. Sometimes indefinitely. This meant people imprisoned as suspects awaiting their trial often never saw their judgement. Instead they died in the poor prison conditions. The First Magnesium War During his third year in prison awaiting trial for stealing grapes, Magnesium Fiddlesticks met Quintar, a young slave that had been arrested fleeing the murder of his master. The two conspired together for a year, and gathered support from the then huge prison populace. The pair orchestrated the largest prison riot in Laxidasian history in 3188, escaping from Homeland's prison with 10,000 men women and children, leading to the prison's eventual re-naming to Prison Break Point. From their they fought a guirilla war against Reeve's leadership, gaining supporters in every town they visited. Reeve was never a successful tactician, due to having no real battle planning experience, Magnesium and Quintar were equally unqualified but they learned quickly. After several years of fighting and gaining support, Quintar, leading his army of 50,000 Laxidasians stormed Homeland and challenged Reeve to a duel, to save their armies the bloodshed of battle. Reeve accepted and they fought. Quintar emerged the clear victor and offered to spare Reeve's life. Reeve however ordered her mercenaries and knights to fight regardless of the duel. Quintar beheaded Reeve and the mercenaries and knights refused their leaders final order. Quintar, being only 19 by the end of the war believed he was too young to take up the empire, instead Magnesium became Laxidasia's Second emperor. = Trade and Economy = Current Exports Laxidasia's economy relies heavily on the export of rare Kreef lobsters from the fresh waters of the river Pike. These goods are shipped from Laxidasia's only shipyard equipped for inter-continental trade in Baywatch. Under the rule of Magnesium the export of slaves has risen substantially and has been decriminalized, however it remains difficult to profit from due to the trade's illegality elsewhere around the world coupled with Baywatch's short trade range. Past Exports During the reign of Eleanor Reeve the mines under the Magnesium mountains were highly active in the exporting of Magnes Steel. While supply was high during this time, Baywatch was exporting so much to other kingdoms that Laxidasia itself had an extreme shortage of the mineral. Laxidasia was also a popular source of basil in other nations during Reeve's rule, however the herb was over farmed and its crop was decimated during the first Magnesium wars. Imports Laxidasia's largest import is mead. While after Emperor Magnesium was dethroned there was a record high of 5 separate distilleries, however all but one were destroyed in the lead up to, and during the second Magnesium wars. The final distillery limits supply to its own bars and taverns, while the rest of the nation's taverns are forced to import from neighboring nations. With few fully functioning mines operating in Laxidasia, metal minerals are the second largest import by units. Taxation While in previous reigns taxation was a equal across the nation, in recent times the taxation system has undergone an overhaul. Currently the leadership generates individual figures for each town or city. These figures are referred to as 'quotas'. Responsibility for acquiring the 'quota' falls on the town leader. If the quota is not reached, the value missing is converted to an equal value of slaves based on the current going price of a slave. These slaves are then taken forcefully from the town's youth. The system has been criticised for the ease in which it can be manipulated to oppress towns or cities that show any disloyalty.